Shake It Out
by stoppingtosmellroses
Summary: Juliana has come home from her fencing-obsessed life at The Masters School to spend her senior year at McKinley High with her older brother, Kurt. She'll have to learn how to forge friendships, juggle relationships, and accept life for what it is.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

_And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't _

_So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road _

_And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope _

_It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat _

_Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me _

_Looking for heaven, found the devil in me _

_Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me _

_Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah _

_Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah _

_And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back _

_So shake him off, oh woah _

The song had ended and some crappy, pop song had started. I turned the radio station until I found something decent.

After a few more hours of driving, I realized what street I was on. I made a turn and saw the enormous house that rested at 415 Whitman Avenue, Lima, Ohio 45802. So this was were we lived now. Ok. I took it in.

Beige siding. Hunter-green shutters. Black iron fence surrounded the backyard. There was a colorful garden beneath the large front window. The porch had two chairs and a small table in between the two. I wondered how much time Dad and Carol spent together on that porch. Mom and Dad had spent time on our old house's porch.

It wasn't that I didn't like Carol. I absolutely loved her when she and Dad had come to visit me last year at The Masters School in New York. She was the closest thing I'd had to a mom since my real one had died when I was only seven years old. Apparently, Carol had felt like I was a daughter to her, because ever since we met, we text, e-mail, and talk on the phone every week. As a teenager, I never had a mom, but Carol was close enough to one for me.

I pulled my 1994 Jeep Wrangler into the paved driveway next to Carol's station wagon, and turned off the engine. Carol had a son, didn't she? Yes. I remembered then, his name was… Frank? I wasn't sure, but I knew that he was going to be a senior at McKinley High School also this year.

I unbuckled my seatbelt, opened the door, and climbed out, grabbing my shoulder bag from the passenger seat. I opened up the trunk and grasped some of my things. _I'm going to need to make two trips,_ I though to myself, lugging my things to the front door.

I dug around in my pocket for the house key Dad had given me to the new house during his visit last year. Once I had my fingers around it, I pulled it out, stuck it in the keyhole of the door, and let myself in.

"Dad? Carol?" I bellowed through the house. No answer. Ok, well, I was early, so I wasn't shocked that they were out. I finished unloading my things, trudging back and forth from the car to the house with my luggage on my back. I had finally loaded everything into main hallway when I noticed a note on the kitchen counter.

_Juliana, _

_ Sorry if we're not home by the time you get here. Carol went out grocery shopping for your 'Welcome Home' dinner, and I got called into the shop to deal with a customer. Kurt and Finn are with some friends, but we'll all be back by 4. Your bedroom's upstairs, 3__rd__ door on the right. We've missed you, Princess._

_Love, Dad_

'Welcome Home' dinner? Really? I had asked him not to make a big deal about it, but it was probably Kurt who heard about the idea, and decided he would die trying to throw this little fiesta.

Dad said they'd be home by 4. It was 2:30 pm right now. I decided I had time to start unpacking, take a shower, and straighten up a little.

I heaved my bags up the stairs, thinking to myself, _So his name's Finn? Well, I was close!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

I examined my room. Light purple walls. I creamy colored wooden furniture set. A window set with a black and white zebra striped cushion, followed by many other colorful throw pillows. My bed has mismatched, but stylish looking sheets on it. Dark purple curtains with black floral design hung to the sides of the windows in the room. It was obvious what had happened: Kurt had somehow convinced Dad to hand over his credit card and went on an all out pottery barn shopping spree just for me… No one knew me better than my brother.

I unpacked my clothes, stored them in the drawers and closet, put out some of the pictures I had on the dresser, mostly of great fencers I'd met, but also some of me with my best friend at Master's, Ben, some pictures of my brother, and one of my family. Well, my old family, that is: Kurt, Mom, Dad, and me. I realized that I'd need a new picture with my new family.

I stored my toiletries in the bathroom and my sheets and such in the linen closet. After seeing Kurt's latest little design accomplishment, I came to a conclusion that I would have no say in the decoration of my room. I had one bag left to place in the room: my fencing bag. As I made my way across the room with it, I thought about all the fencing I'd done over the years. I'd competed with a team and as an individual in national competitions. Fencing was my life. It was everything to me. It was why I'd missed Dad and Carol's wedding (which I still felt extremely guilty about, even though they'd told me to miss the wedding for the competition).

Being an epee fencer required me to devote every waking moment to it. I spent holidays at school, busting my ass in the training room with Ben. At The Master's School, Ben had been my best and only friend, and vice versa. The reason, besides the fact that we were made to be friends, was because he had the same attitude towards fencing as I did. Our only free time, as scarce as it was, was spent together. Most of our classes were together, albeit some of the AP classes. Where I excelled in areas like sciences, mathematics, and French, Ben was better at History. If he didn't have fencing, he would have been a historian in the making. The way he preferred to look at it was that, someday, he would be the guy historians were lecturing about. I liked to believe him.

Now that I thought about it, I didn't really know how to function without Ben. We did everything together: Fencing, Cello-playing, we'd even once tried the school's Glee Club once. Needless to say, we agreed we'd never go back. When I described the failure of an experience to Kurt on the phone the night after, he'd said he was disappointed in me. I wasn't shocked.

The point I'm trying to make is that even though I might have Kurt now, whom did Ben have now that I had left? I wasn't sure, and it made me worrisome as I turned the shower faucet in the bathroom, grabbed a towel, and started to clean myself up.

***Author's Note***

**Sorry, I know it's a short chapter, but I was kind of being rushed to write it... *Ahem***

**Anyway, the rest of the chapters will be longer, and not as boring, so please bear with me. **

**Another thing, I'll post a few more chapters today and tomorrow, but after a while, I'm just going to post one chapter a day for multiple reasons.**

**1) I have other stories to write for. **

**2) I'm on break right now, but I start school again in a few days.**

**Also, I don't post new chapters until I have reviews. Please review! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

***Third Point of View***

Finn walked through the door, trying to remember when Juliana was supposed to be arriving.

_Oh, yeah! She'll be here at 5_, he realized.

Taking the headphones out of his ears, he could hear the shower running upstairs.

_ Oh, my god! Someone's in the house! _His immediate reaction was to retrieve his baseball bat, and make his way upstairs to the bathroom.

***Juliana's Point of View***

After letting the hot shower cleanse my mind, I stepped out, wiped the steam off the mirror, and analyzed my appearance. First of all, I was wet. My mid-back length, dark brunette hair was dripping. I stared into my icy blue eyes, and then glanced over my shoulders and arms. The bruises and scars I'd obtained from fencing over the years stood out against the porcelain white skin stretched over my muscles. I took a step back and took in my whole body. I was 5'09". Almost as tall as Kurt said he was now. I was lean, but I had to be to fence competitively. I was muscular, but not in that crazy body-builder sort of way. My muscles in no way stood out. I was just simply toned.

After deciding that I was done checking myself out in the mirror, I turned to hurry back to my bedroom. I would be freezing as soon as I opened the door and felt the draft come in.

However, when I did open the door, I didn't find a chilly air. Instead, I walked into a boy close to my age, who must have been 6'3". We both fell down, and in precise unison, we both screamed. Sadly, for him that is, his cry of panic was as high-pitched as mine. I immediately scooted away, and tried to stand up. He had stopped screaming at this point and tried talking to me.

"Please, just calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," he said relaxed, as if he knew who I was.

"YEA, RIGHT, YOU PERVERT!" I screeched as I kicked him square in his family jewels. He immediately let out a miniscule squeak, and before I knew it, he was down on the ground, incapacitated.

I sprinted to my room, slammed the door shut, and locked it. Just as I was dialing 911 while rummaging through my fencing bag for a suitable weapon, I could hear a familiar voice out in the hallway.

"Oh, my god! Finn! Are you OK? What happened to you?"

_Kurt_.

As I was about to open the door, epee in hand, ready to protect my big brother, I made some realizations.

First, Kurt called the pervert, 'Finn.' Well, shit. I just made my first impression on my stepbrother… by kicking him in the nuts. Second, I had 911 on the phone. I muttered, "Sorry, never mind," to the operator, and hung up. And lastly, I was wearing nothing but a towel.

I immediately threw my bathrobe around my body, and ran outside to Kurt and Finn, saying, "Oh, my god! I'm so sorry, Finn! I though you were some pervert who broke in!"

This went on until Finn was able to stand up again, and said to me, "No problem. I thought you were some burglar, until I realized how wrong I had it. You must be Juliana."

"JULIANA!" Kurt shrieked, and engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug. At one point, I thought he was going to let go, until Finn spoke up and said that I was about to go blue in the face. Kurt released me and started with the questions, completely brushing off the prior events.

"Why are you so early? How have you been? How's Ben? Does he say 'Hi?' You look thinner! Are you eating enough?" This went on until I simply slapped my hand over my brother's mouth.

"_Tais-toi_," I spoke politely in French, and then removed my hand. He sighed, rolling his eyes. I turned to Finn, whose color was returning to his face.

"Yes, I'm Juliana. I'm so sorry about that. I would never have done that if I'd realized who you were. And, you are Finn, right?"

"Yea, and no problem. It was my bad. I guess I should have figured you weren't a burglar when I'd seen that you parked your car in the driveway. Nice paint job by the way. That model's over 15 years old." He spoke these words to me. I was flattered.

My car was my baby. I absolutely cherished my Wrangler. When she received a compliment, I felt pride fill me up.

I thanked Finn. Kurt, now bored with the direction the conversation had taken, walked away with one hand on his hip, and the other swinging next to him.

I looked at Finn, and we both just laughed.

I guess my new family life wouldn't be so hard adjusting to after all. That is, if I could learn when not to be the crap out of other household residents.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

A few hours later, everyone was nearly prepared for dinner. I could smell the penne a la vodka coming from the kitchen as I was examining the dining room. Dad and Carol had hung some cheesy "Welcome back!" decorations around the first floor. It was nice, and it made me feel wanted.

I heard a knock on the front door, and as I started to pace towards it, Finn cut in front of me. It must have been his girlfriend, Rachel. She and Kurt's boyfriend would be coming over for dinner to meet me. Burt had said that they might as well be included, since they spent so much time at the Hummel-Hudson household, they were practically family anyway. I had no objection. I could use any new friends I could get.

Finn said, "Hey, you look great!" He leaned down and gave her a kiss. Once he moved out of the way, I could see her. Long, dark brown hair. Short. Very short. She had big, chocolately brown eyes. Her lips were full, and she had a slightly large nose.

It wasn't long before I realized that she was staring back at me as well. As Finn began to introduce us, she let out an ear-piercing squeal, and ran towards me. I had never been so afraid in my life.

"Oh my god! You're Kurt's sister! You're from New York, aren't you? We are going to be best friends! You have to tell me all about New York! I mean, I've only been there once, but that'll all change after graduation! Oh, you, me, Kurt, and Finn can all be on Broadway together!" She was squeezing the life out of me now while I looked at Finn in panic. Did this girl just say _Broadway_? Obviously, Kurt had said nothing about what kind of person I was. I was about to seriously burst this girl's bubble.

I pushed her off of me gently, and said, "Sorry, but before I decide to become life partners with a girl I just met, I like to get to know her a little bit first." I had delivered the statement with a smirk on my face. Rachel's mouth had curled into an O of embarrassment, and she turned to look at Finn. I did the same.

He was laughing hysterically, and said in between breaths, "Holy crap, this year is gonna be fun!" He walked passed us, patting me on the back. Rachel followed after him, and I decided to walk around the house.

Before I took one step, I heard a second knock on the door. Seeing as no one else was going to answer it, I turned the knob and was faced with a boy about 5'08". He had what seemed to be crazy curly dark hair held down by what could have been a gallon of gel. His eyebrows were somewhat triangularly shaped. He had gorgeous hazel eyes, and in all honesty, the guy was ripped.

"Um, Juliana?" he questioned with a smile.

"Yeah, you're Blaine, right?" I asked. Well, damn, my big brother have good taste. It wasn't even just the looks alone. From everything Kurt had told me over the phone about Blaine from the day they met, he was a stand-up guy. Blaine nodded, and I moved aside, gesturing for him to come in.

"Kurt! Your boyfriend's here!" I bellowed up the stairs.

"But I'm not done moisturizing!" he yelled back and Blaine and I just laughed. We walked into the dining room, now casually getting to know each other.

"You're from New York, right?"

"Yeah, and are you from here? Or did you move?"

"I've been here my whole life. I used to attend this other school, Dalton, so Kurt and I didn't meet until he transferred there."

I remembered then the day that Kurt had tearfully explained to me over the phone that he had to leave all his friends at McKinley and transfer to Dalton because some douchey homophobe was bullying him.

Kurt scurried down the stairs, sporting a pair of stonewashed skinny jeans, and a sweater, which, I was pretty sure, came from my closet. Oh, well. It looked better on him anyway.

"Hellooo." He greeted Blaine with a kiss on the cheek and joy welled up inside of me. My brother had found love. This was a historical day for me.

Kurt turned to me; his arm now slung around Blaine's shoulders, and said, "Shall we go to the dining room, _Mademoiselle_?"

As the seven of us sat around the table, all eating, laughing, and talking, I made a realization that Dad wasn't kidding when he said that they were all like a family. A family was something that I hadn't been apart of in a few years, and now that I was, I couldn't take my mind of the reason why.

Just then, as if she was a telepath, Rachel asked, "So, Juliana, why did you leave New York?"

I felt my stomach tie itself into a knot, I went pale, I swallowed, and started with, "Oh, well, um…"

Carol, Dad, and Kurt all went tense. Even Finn, who I had met for the first time today, stopped chewing his food. Kurt must have told him. Blaine sensed the change in atmosphere and looked around, confused. The only person oblivious to the tension was Rachel. She sat looking at me incredulously, awaiting an answer. Kurt leaned over, patted her hand, and quietly spoke, "We'll talk about that another time."

The truth was that I felt like I wasn't fast enough, or strong enough, on the strip. I had trained harder than ever before, ate less, and deprived myself of much needed sleep. I was like a zombie. At one point, I had considered a 3-mile run a warm-up. I thought of an energy bar as a whole meal. I figured I could power through the day on only 3 hours of sleep. I was wrong about everything. I had been so weak, and torn apart, that one day, fencing another girl on my team, I collapsed. I was asleep in the school's hospital for 4 days. I could barely walk on my own for a week afterwards. When Dad and Carol got the call from school, they talked it over, and decided that I needed to be home with a support system. I spent the rest of the summer in Master's therapy program, learning the right portions, appropriate amounts of exercise, and the proper amount of sleep required nightly.

Now I was here at home. Of course, I didn't want to give my life story to Rachel or Blaine, so I politely answered her with, "Um, I became overwhelmed with life taking care of myself, so I'm here to be with my family." She nodded.

Kurt would tell her the whole story. That was ok. It saved me the trouble, and if I was going to be friends with this girl, she may as well know the truth about me.

Dinner continued on a happy note. We got back into other discussions, and Blaine mentioned that I should join Glee club along with the rest of them. I politely declined, explaining my last experience in a glee club, and said that for now, I would be focusing on my grades as well as some fencing. I knew that I couldn't over-do it. If I tried, I'd screw things up all over again.


End file.
